On Earth We Become Stories: prologue
summary: Hestia Jones is asked to teach History of Magic at Hogwarts following Harry Potter's second year.
She didn't expect to run into Remus Lupin, though, the boy she used to fancy during their school years, as professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
pairing: remus lupin x fem!oc
tags: teacher romance, awkward romance, co-workers, old school crushes, soft Remus Lupin, wizarding history
read more under the cut !
After the incident with the Philosopher’s Stone during Harry Potter's First Year, it became a priority for the Ministry of Magic to ensure the safety of the Chosen One while in the Wizarding World.
If Harry Potter were to be in danger inside the safest place in the UK's Wizarding World, it would only raise questions as if any place were to be safe at all. Dumbledore, who most people regarded with contempt, was the greatest wizard alive, but the apparent danger right under his nose, which he had been unable to identify, made people doubt that he wouldn’t make a mistake again.
So, during the Summer of 1992, the Public Safety department led a series of inspections regarding the staff, from whom Professor Quirrel had been a part of the year before, to make sure no insufficient teacher laid their hands on the students again. No concern was issued regarding Lockhart, who had been chosen by Dumbledore that year, to bear the title of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The famous author was publicly regarded as a suitable candidate for the position as, in the eyes of the public, his many books were proof of his qualities as a wizard.
The Ministry was in no position to impose a teacher at the time, in any case, and its only role was to approve of the staff in whose hands lay Hogwarts.
The teachers were highly capable, and few complaints had ever been issued during Dumbledore's time as a headmaster. Other members of the staff, like Madame Pomfrey at the nursery, were known to have held high positions before their time at the school. And Filch, although a squib and slightly cruel, served his purpose in keeping the students out of trouble and punishing those that were the trouble, alongside his beloved cat Mrs Norris.
So there were barely any worries, if at all, that the inspections would bear negative results. Both the Ministry and Hogwarts' staff knew all this to be a formality, merely a facade to the public, to ensure the peace of mind of dozens of witches and wizards that still feared He Who Must Not Be Named.
However, per the Decree for the Autonomy of Spirits, a ghost could not hold a job after death for no more than twenty five years.
Professor Binns had been a Spirit since before the Two Wizarding Wars, and this decree, a proposition by the Department of Magical Creatures, had been established two years before.
Now, it wasn't a secret that a ghost was teaching at the school. Most, if not all of the current members of the Ministry of Magic had gone through Hogwarts and been taught by Professor Binns. As this law was recently established, and Dumbledore had expressed no issue with the teacher, neither him nor the Ministry had taken notice of this formality.
The nature of ghosts was still mysterious to the living wizards, and there was brief conversation on what exactly was to be done with the Professor. If he were to be stripped of his job, would he continue roaming the castle, as another member of the ancient group of ghosts haunting Hogwarts? Or would Professor Binns refuse, and continue teaching regardless? After all, he had been the one and only person to teach the students for more than a century and a half, and that ought to mean something.
To much surprise, however, when Professor Binns was told that his job was well and done, and that he need not teach anymore, the ghost got up from his place in front of the fireplace and vanished in a cloud of smoke, much like he had gotten up to teach his next class a hundred years ago.
It then became crucial for Hogwarts to find a new History of Magic professor.
The task was no hero’s work at first glance, as the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts had been filled in irregularly for the last twenty years. But the wizards adept at dueling were plenty following the trail of the First Wizarding War, and Binns’ work, although everlasting, had grown little affection for the subject in the heart of his students.
Barely any wizards chose to keep taking History of Magic after their Fifth Year. And from the ones that did, even less chose to take the N.E.W.T. during Seventh Year. To find a wizard among them who had an “Outstanding” in their results turned out to be a nearly impossible task.
Thousands upon thousands of academic results from the wizards at the Ministry of Magic were checked, reviewed and ultimately thrown aside. Not a single person in their records met the criteria and the 1st of September grew nearer and nearer. Dumbledore suggested checking the results of former students at Hogwarts, which meant reading over nearly three decades worth of wizards that had come and gone through the fields of the castle. In the end, they found a single, muggleborn witch, with consistently perfect marks in the subject during her time as a student. This was Hestia Jones.
With a little bit of tracking, they found she held a muggle job in Southern England, Essex, and lived in a little flat close to her parents’. She offered little resistance and accepted the position without further ado. A few weeks before the school year started she rented a cottage in Hogsmeade, where she settled with her ill mother, for whom she had stayed in the Muggle World.
Hestia was very busy those next few weeks. As per asked, Binn's famous notes were brought over and she sat at the kitchen table, day and night, going over them in a haste. Binns had still been using textbooks from his time as a living teacher, and she had to scrap, reorganize and update the materials before classes started.
She came out scarcely and mostly after dark, to the Three Broomsticks. Once there she downed butterbeer after butterbeer, with a grim look on her face and hardly in the mood to talk. Only a few days before the start of the school year, Lockhart went over to take a look at the rumored new teacher, who he had heard was a young witch, and made the mistake of trying to court her. Hestia hexed him so quickly, some said, that his pants caught fire and he fled the pub never to be seen again. Further into the year, when Hogsmeade season started for the students, Lockhart still refused to set foot in the Three Broomsticks. And though Hestia, embarrassed to no end about her outburst, had apologized profusely over their time together as teachers, that year's professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts avoided standing still when he saw her turn the corner.
Hestia's first year of teaching was unfortunate, if not frustrating. Students fell asleep during lectures much like they had during her days at Hogwarts, and presented reluctance to join the class or show any sort of fondness for the subject, despite her best attempts to show herself as a kind and attentive teacher. By November she was regularly going back to the Three Broomsticks, and by February she dreaded appearing in the classroom at all.
Binns' old exams used his outdated notes, which didn't cover her new curriculum, so exams season especially turned out to be torture; not only did she have to test the entire student body, with which most teachers were already experienced, but also had to prepare exams from scratch for those who were taking their N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s in History of Magic. (The general dislike for her subject worked in her favor, this time, so the workload from the OWLs was not as massive.) Still, it hurt to see the classroom empty of sixth years except for one or two obnoxious Ravenclaws, who were aiming for a job at the Ministry of Magic.
By the time she was done marking, July had come around the corner and her first year was over. Her mother died the following August and she mourned for the rest of Summer vacation, only to be once again, right where she started, on the 1st of September.
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Chiyo x Robin Family Intro :D
(I can't draw digitally so take this for now)
{text, top to bottom: Rei ♂️ Kirei ♀️, wants to be carried, Teddy bear was from Bachiko, Twins}
Rei!
Done by my friend on Instagram!
Rei is the male twin, he inherited Chiyo's bloodline magic: Aevum.
Rei prefers to keep to himself, but does pull on Chiyo's shirt a lot, he's a Mama's boy at heart. He likes it when things are fair, he always makes sure to share anything he gets with his sister. Except for that teddy bear, which was a gift from Bachiko when Robin told her that him and Chiyo were expecting :D
Kirei:
Sadly no art :(
Kirei is the female twin, she inherited Robin's Bullseye shot, but her 'mana colour' has more of a light lavender color.
Kirei's love language is physical touch, which is evident from how she acts at home and around others. She's less shy than her brother, but not so outgoing. She enjoys being put on shoulders, it doesn't matter whos.
• When Chiyo learnt she was having twins, she pretty much passed out. She was so done fr
• Robin was beyond excited though.
• The both took parts of Chiyo's dead name, Kireina. This was Robin's idea, and Chiyo was hesitant at first. But she accepted it on the terms that the two kids would take Robin's family name instead of hers.
•Chiyo was constantly difficult during her pregnancy, she kept insisting she should go to work, it took them a tranquilizing spell to stop her.
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